Venezuela Says It Will Pay Only $255 Million To Exxon Mobil

Venezuela says it has successfully defended itself in an international arbitration case brought by U.S.-based Exxon Mobil and will pay only $255 million out of more than $900 million awarded to the company.

The U.S.-based oil company was awarded compensation from Venezuela for socialist President Hugo Chavez government’s nationalization of Exxon Mobil assets.

State Oil Company Petroleos de Venezuela SA said in a statement that Exxon Mobil had seized $300 million in Venezuela's U.S. accounts and that the company also owed the state oil company about $351 million.

Previously, Exxon Mobil said the International Chamber Of Commerce had determined that the Petroleos de Venezuela "does have a contractual liability to Exxon Mobil."

The company said the award was for $907,588,000.

The Associated Press says that according to the rules of the International Chamber Of Commerce, its decisions are binding.

Exxon Mobil has not publicly revealed how much it was seeking in compensation from Venezuela for the 2007 nationalization of a crude oil project in Venezuela’s Orinoco belt.

Some sources said Exxon Mobil had sought as much as $10 billion, and Venezuela had earlier offered $1 billion.